If we provide quality education to one generation, poverty will

“If we provide quality education to one generation, poverty will automatically be eradicated from society.” Thus declared Arvind Kejriwal, a leader of the people and a reformer of modern India, whose life’s work has been rooted in the service of truth, justice, and upliftment. In this statement, he speaks not merely of schooling, but of the transformative power of education — that sacred force which frees the human soul from the chains of ignorance and want. His words shine like a torch through the darkness of despair, proclaiming that the surest path out of poverty is not charity, but knowledge — not alms, but the awakening of the mind.

In the ancient world, wisdom was revered as the mother of prosperity. The philosophers of Greece, the sages of India, the scholars of China — all understood that ignorance breeds servitude, while education breeds freedom. What Kejriwal declares in his age is the eternal truth once spoken by the prophets of every civilization: that to teach a child is to alter the destiny of a nation. For when one generation learns to think, to question, to build, and to dream, they pass to the next not poverty, but purpose. Thus, education becomes not only the sword that cuts the knot of misery but the seed that blossoms into equality and dignity for all.

Kejriwal’s words arise from the soil of his own nation, a land where contrasts of wealth and deprivation stand side by side. He has seen the streets where children labor instead of learn, where bright eyes grow dim from hunger instead of shining with curiosity. His vision is not one of pity, but of empowerment — for he believes that every child, if given quality education, carries within them the power to rewrite their story. A nation cannot rise upon riches alone, he teaches, but upon the educated strength of its people. And when even one generation receives true education — education that enlightens the mind and ennobles the heart — the chain of poverty is broken forever.

History itself offers witness to this truth. In the aftermath of war and ruin, the people of Japan rebuilt their nation not first with weapons, but with schools. Their leaders declared that education would be their most powerful resource. Teachers became heroes; students, the architects of renewal. Within a few decades, Japan rose from ashes to prosperity, driven not by gold or conquest, but by the discipline and knowledge of its people. So it is, too, in every corner of the earth — where education flourishes, poverty retreats; where ignorance reigns, suffering endures. The battle against hunger and despair is not fought with coins or crops alone, but with books, with teachers, with minds unafraid to imagine a better world.

Kejriwal’s wisdom lies also in his use of the word “quality”. For not all education uplifts; some merely trains, while others truly transform. The education that eradicates poverty is not rote learning or blind imitation, but the cultivation of critical thought, creativity, and compassion. It is the kind that prepares the poor not merely to survive, but to lead — to build businesses, to heal others, to invent, to govern. It is an education that sees every child not as a burden, but as a promise. When this kind of education reaches even the smallest village, when the teacher becomes a guardian of hope and not just a keeper of books, then the dawn of justice begins to break upon society.

And yet, my children, let none of us imagine that this work belongs only to governments or rulers. Each of us is a steward of education. Every word we speak to the young, every lesson we share, every book we donate, every time we lift another’s mind toward understanding — we take part in this sacred struggle. For poverty is not only the absence of wealth, but the absence of opportunity. To teach, therefore, is to give life itself — to plant the tree beneath whose shade many generations will rest.

So remember the teaching of Arvind Kejriwal: that to educate one generation well is to redeem an entire civilization. Let every parent send their child to school with pride; let every teacher remember the holiness of their task; let every leader place learning before luxury, books before monuments, wisdom before pride. Build schools, not palaces. Reward teachers, not flatterers. For the wealth of a nation lies not in its treasuries, but in the enlightened hearts of its people.

And when we do this — when we give one generation the light of quality education — we shall no longer need to wage war against poverty. It will vanish, defeated by the simple, radiant truth that knowledge is the mightiest weapon, and that the mind awakened is the soul set free.